Ariana Afghan Restaurant - (212) 262-2323

Unbelievably the smallest portion sizes I've ever ordered... Management rude and my $14 order of Chicken Kebab came with 4 cubes of diced chicken. Absolutely ridiculous. Apparently, their goal is to fill you up on the pound of dry rice they pack. Hopefully SeamlessWeb will reconsider even listing this menu. If I could give it no stars, I would.

The decor is fab, with many hanging Afghan rugs. The visuals are the highlight. The food costs double what it should, especially if it were prepared well. Portions are tiny. The brown rice they advertise is really a non-brown Basmati variety. "Salad" consists of lifeless shredded white and yellow iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes, a few pieces of onion, and overly bitter lemon/vinegar, oil "dressing." The curried pumpkin was actually interesting, but miniature in portion. I will not return to this mid-town rip-off and advise others to avoid Ariana. Better restaurants that are of the diaspora include Moustache in the village, and Beduin Tent on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn.

I thought this was a different restaurant when I reviewed it but I then realized I had reviewed the wrong place. Sorry - my bad. Labeled it three stars because the system wouldn't let me leave the star rating blank and I didn't want to skew the results for other ratings.